Landlord Insurance vs. Renters Insurance: What's the Difference?

Landlord insurance covers the building a property owner rents out, the furniture or appliances they supply, lost rental income, and their liability if someone gets hurt. Renters insurance covers a tenant’s belongings, their liability, and extra living costs if the home becomes unlivable, and it averages $16 a month at Lemonade. A landlord’s policy won’t pay for a tenant’s belongings, so every renter needs their own.

What is landlord insurance?

Landlord insurance covers property owners who are renting out their homes, condos, or apartments.

Because homeowners insurance is meant for owner-occupied homes, owners who lease their property to tenants typically won’t be able to protect their property with a standard homeowners insurance policy.

What is renters insurance?

Renters insurance covers tenants’ personal property and liability against a range of bad scenarios, known in insurance-speak as “perils.” It can also help pay renters’ additional living expenses if they’re forced to evacuate their homes after disaster strikes.

Heads up: If you’re a renter and you sublet your place, your policy won’t necessarily cover losses that occur while you’re not living in your home.

Head to our complete guide on what renters insurance is, if you’re interested.

Landlord insurance vs. renters insurance: side by side

Landlord insurance protects the owner and the building. Renters insurance protects the tenant and their stuff. Here’s how they compare, line by line.

	Landlord insurance	Renters insurance
Who buys it	The person who owns the rental	The person who lives in it
Who it protects	The owner’s building, belongings, rental income, and liability	The tenant’s belongings, liability, and living costs
Legally required?	Not by law, but lenders often require it if the property has a mortgage	No state requires it, but a landlord can require it in your lease
Dwelling coverage	Helps repair the building after a covered loss	Not included, since you don’t own the building
Personal property coverage	Covers items the landlord supplies, like furniture that comes with the unit	Covers your own belongings, like your laptop, clothes, and bike
Loss of use coverage	Replaces rental income if the unit becomes unlivable	Helps pay for food, lodging, and laundry if you can’t stay home
Liability coverage	Helps if someone’s hurt at the rental and the landlord is held responsible	Helps if someone’s hurt at your place or you damage someone else’s property
Medical payments to others	Handled through liability protection	Helps pay a guest’s small medical bills if they’re hurt at your place
Damage the tenant causes	Usually not covered if it’s intentional or wear and tear	Liability coverage can help if you accidentally cause a fire. Other accidents may not be covered, so check your policy.
Cost at Lemonade	Starts at $25 a month	Averages $16 a month, starts at $5

What does landlord insurance cover?

Landlord insurance covers the building, the furniture and appliances an owner supplies, lost rental income, and the owner’s liability if someone gets hurt. It doesn’t cover a tenant’s belongings. Here’s what each part does:

• Dwelling coverage can help cover damage to the structure of the property itself.
• Personal property coverage protects landlord-owned property, like any furniture that comes with a rental apartment.
• Loss of use coverage can compensate landlords if their property becomes unlivable, tenants are forced to evacuate, and landlords temporarily lose out on rental income.
• Liability protection may kick in if a landlord is held liable for bodily injury to a guest or tenant in their rental property.

What doesn’t landlord insurance cover?

Unless a landlord adds an endorsement like Lemonade’s Equipment Breakdown Coverage, they won’t be covered for malfunctions or breakdowns in appliances like air conditioners or dishwashers. And as with most home insurance policies, landlord insurance won’t automatically cover floods, earthquakes, or water backups. 

What about damage a tenant causes?

Landlord insurance usually won’t pay for intentional damage, like vandalism, or for everyday wear and tear. Accidents are murkier. If a tenant starts a kitchen fire, the landlord’s policy may help with the building, but their insurer could still ask the tenant to cover the cost.

That’s where renters liability coverage comes in. If you accidentally damage a neighbor’s unit, like an overflowing tub that floods the apartment below, it can help pay for the repairs. For your own unit, it generally covers fire or smoke only, so a leak you cause in your place may not be covered.

What does renters insurance cover?

Renters insurance covers your belongings, your liability, guests’ medical bills, and extra living costs if you can’t stay home. It doesn’t cover the building. Here’s the breakdown:

• Personal property coverage can help cover the cost of losses and damage to your belongings after a covered loss, like a kitchen fire, windstorm, hail, smoke, vandalism, theft (inside or outside your home), freezing, lightning, and more. Just remember that furnishings or other property that belongs to your landlord aren’t included.
• Temporary living expenses, aka loss of use coverage, helps foot the bill for extra costs you might have (think food, lodging, laundry, and the like) if you’re forced to leave your home for certain reasons.
• Personal liability coverage can help pay for damages you’re held responsible for if someone is accidentally injured at your place, or if you accidentally damage someone else’s property.
• Medical payments to others can help pay a guest’s small medical bills if they’re hurt at your place, no matter who’s at fault.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, renters liability coverage typically starts at a $100,000 limit.

If you’ve got a few particularly valuable belongings, you might want to layer on additional coverage. For an additional charge, renters can purchase Extra Coverage for valuables like bikes, jewelry, cameras, fine art, and musical instruments. Lemonade’s Extra Coverage offers benefits above and beyond a standard renters policy, including deductible-free claims, coverage for accidental damage, and coverage for “mysterious losses.”

Some natural disasters, like volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and tornadoes, are typically covered by renters insurance. Your policy generally won’t cover flooding, sinkholes, or earthquakes. It also won’t cover the theft of your car, mold, damage from pets or pests, or any undocumented items. Lemonade’s claims team will still follow up to help with items you don’t have proof of ownership for, like receipts or email order confirmations.

Renting with roommates? Your renters insurance won’t cover their stuff, so you’ll each need your own policy.

Who pays? Landlord vs. renters insurance, scenario by scenario

Your renters insurance usually pays for your stuff and your liability, and your landlord’s insurance usually pays for the building. Here’s how four common mishaps play out.

What happened	Renters insurance	Landlord insurance	Who responds
A burst pipe ruins your laptop	Can help replace your laptop	Can help fix the pipe and the damaged walls and floors	Both, for different things
Your overflowing tub damages the unit below	Liability can help pay to fix your neighbor’s unit. Damage to your own is usually covered only for fire or smoke.	Can help repair both units, though the insurer may look to you for the cost.	Renters insurance for the unit below. Landlord insurance for yours, though you could still be asked to help pay.
A guest trips on a broken stair the landlord didn’t fix	Usually doesn’t apply, since the stair is the landlord’s to fix	Liability protection can help if the landlord is held responsible	Landlord insurance
Your stuff is stolen from your car	Can help replace stolen items, even though they were taken outside your home	Doesn’t cover tenant belongings	Renters insurance

Coverage depends on your policy’s limits, your deductible, and what caused the loss. Theft of the car itself isn’t covered by renters insurance.

Landlord insurance vs. renters insurance cost

Landlord insurance costs more than renters insurance because a whole building is pricier to protect than a set of belongings. The Insurance Information Institute says it usually runs about 25% more than a homeowners policy on the same home. Your price depends on the property, where it is, and how much coverage you choose.

Lemonade’s landlord policies start at $25 a month. Renters insurance averages $16 a month with us and starts at $5. For prices by state, see average renters insurance prices by state.

Do you really need insurance as a renter?

It’s worth it, even though no state requires it. Your landlord’s policy won’t cover your stuff, and renters insurance starts at $5 a month at Lemonade.

No state legally requires tenants to buy renters insurance, but landlords and property managers may make it a condition of your lease. Even if yours doesn’t, it’s still smart to get covered.

Chances are, your belongings are worth more than you think. Add up the laptop, phone, clothes, furniture, and kitchen gear, and the total climbs fast. Renters insurance is an affordable way to protect that money, plus your finances if someone gets hurt at your place.

Landlord insurance vs. Renters insurance FAQs

A few quick words, because we <3 our lawyers: This post is general in nature, and any statement in it doesn’t alter the terms, conditions, exclusions, or limitations of policies issued by Lemonade, which differ according to your state of residence. You’re encouraged to discuss your specific circumstances with your own professional advisors. The purpose of this post is merely to provide you with info and insights you can use to make such discussions more productive! Naturally, all comments by, or references to, third parties represent their own views, and Lemonade assumes no responsibility for them. Coverage may not be available in all states.